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In England, it's quite common to use informal affectionate terms. They vary regionally - love, pet, hinny, babs, duck, cock, hen, flower, petal, princess etc. Their use isn't uncontroversial, but they're widely accepted by a large proportion of the population and frequently used in many offices.

https://yougov.co.uk/news/2012/02/08/being-called-babe-offen...

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Fair enough, as with most things in life, it's context dependent. I'm speaking from an American perspective, and even in an endearing manner I would never use `babe` because that's something you'd call your significant other. Not a professional colleague.

Anecdotally, I hear babe from female to male coworkers much more often than the converse. That or 'hon'.

Its common to use informal affectionate terms in the US too.

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